“In my time as the Commissioner, Bayelsa United Ocean Boys of Brass, Bayelsa Queens, were on top, even in Wrestling and other sporting activities.

“If elected as the Bayelsa Governor, one of the key areas that I will pay more attention is sports.

“This is because Bayelsa has all it takes to bounce back in the arena of sports of all kinds.

“My government will ensure that we build sporting facilities in all the local government areas of Bayelsa, with a view to recovering young talents in the rural areas.

“As you know, exercise is very good for the body, and it keeps you feet, strong and healthy so, sports is good for body building,” he said.

The governorship candidate assured that he would consolidate on the restoration government of Gov. Seriake Dickson, to move the state forward.

The Chairman of Nigeria Union of Journalists, (NUJ) Bayelsa Council, Mr Samuel Numonengi, tasked journalists to be avoid bias reports that would tarnish the name of the council.

Nigeria News Agency reports that Diri is the serving Senator representing Bayelsa Central Senatorial district, comprising Southern Ijaw Local Government Area, Yenagoa and Kolokuma/Opokuma in the National Assembly.

“These results are coming from a backlog of 62 samples sent to the UPTH COVID -19 laboratory last week.

“These nine newly confirmed cases bring the total number of confirmed cases in the state to 21. Six out of these nine cases are contacts of previously confirmed cases while three are not epidemiologically linked to any of the previous confirmed cases.

“Two of these fresh unlinked cases are critically ill and were on admission in our public hospitals for other underlying illnesses (one had undergone sessions of dialysis).

“All nine new cases have since been evacuated for further treatment at our isolation facilities. All their contacts are being line listed and adequately followed up including necessary environmental decontamination.

“Samples have and are still being collected from their high risk contacts while they have all been counselled on self-quarantine. Risk communication and community engagement are ongoing.

“We discharged three cases during the past week. One case was discharged on Saturday, and the two other cases (including the doctor) were discharged just yesterday after all their repeat tests returned negative.

“This makes a total of nine cases that have been discharged from our Isolation facilities. Currently, we have eleven active cases of COVID -19 in the State.

“All cases except the two cases who were previously on admission for other underlying illness are in stable clinical conditions,’’ he said.

Inodu said the state recorded a death last week as the patient who was initially responding to treatment suddenly developed severe shortness of breath.

“All attempts to salvage him proved abortive even with the intensive and delicate procedures that were administered by the attending medical personnel.

“Most of these samples are contacts of confirmed cases. Little wonder our positive figures seem to be on the increase. This is because of our robust surveillance activities and improved testing rates.

“Permit me to seize this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to all the health care workers particularly the frontlines who have been tireless in their resolve and commitment to the COVID -19 response in the State,” he stated.

“The churches will remain sealed until further notice to serve as deterrent to other churches.

“The move will help in ensuring that other churches adhere to the protocols on hand washing, use of face masks and social distancing as measures to check the spread of the virus in the state,” Akpor said.

He said the security sub-committee of the task force on COVID-19, unsealed two churches earlier shutdown for violating safety measures on the pandemic.

Seipulou explained that the gross inflow for March was N12.8 billion while total deductions from the Federation Accounts Allocation Committee (FAAC) stood at aboutN1.5 billion, leaving a net balance of N11.3 billion.

He said the IGR for February was N848.9 million; funds from other sources came up to N1.5 billion while local government refunds from bailout was N16.3 million.

The governor’s aide added that a total of other receipts of N2.4 billion in addition to net FAAC and other receipts amounted to N13.7 billion.

He noted that the state government made a total payment of N4.8 billion for both capital and recurrent expenditures.

He also said total deductions from FAAC gulped N1.47 billion, which include refund for budget support N152 million; refund on overpayment of derivation indices N128.3 million; Commercial Agricultural Credit (Scheme 2) N266.6 million, among other components.

Seipulou declared N8.1 billion as total outflows, consisting bank loans and contractual guarantees of N2.1 billion, civil servants’ salary N3.9 billion, part of arrears for payment of January salaries N409 million, salaries for political appointees and members of boards N119 million, gratuity payments N100 million, among other items.

According to him, a balance of N5.86 billion was left in the state’s coffers excluding capital and recurrent payments of N4.3 billion, leaving a balance of N1.58 billion.

He noted that the balance brought forward from the month of March was N573.5 million in addition to the balance of April (N1.58 billion) which stood at N2.11 billion at the end of April 2020.

Chief Freston Akpor, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information and Orientation, said the transparency and accountability posture of the Sen. Douye Diri administration would no doubt build trust and promote good governance.

Akpor lauded members of the finance team for their painstaking efforts at rendering the income and expenditure of the state government in compliance with the Transparency Law 2012.

Bayelsa Government on Tuesday said that there was no going back on the ongoing demolition of illegal structures in pursuit of its urban renewal project.

It would be recalled that the Bayelsa COVID-19 Task Force chaired by Gov. Douye Diri had in the past weeks demolished illegal structures at Swali and Etegwe areas of Yenagoa, Bayelsa capital.

Mr Freston Akpor, the Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Information in a statement made available to the News Agency of Nigeria in Yenagoa, urged residents to disregard speculations that the task force would be influenced to back down.

Akpor, who is also a member of the COVID-19 Task Force in Bayelsa, said that a fraudulent syndicate was obtaining money from unsuspecting traders and landlords , while promising them that they would facilitate de-listing of their property from those slated for demolition.

“Landlords and traders in Yenagoa, have been cautioned to be mindful of fraudsters promising to protect their illegal structures from removal by the security sub-committee of the task force on COVID-19.

“The warning is coming against the backdrop of reports of persons claiming they can influence members of the task force against the removal of their illegal structures marked for demolition.

“Some unsuspecting members of the public, who have already fallen prey to the fraudsters, were allegedly told to pay some amount of money to protect their structures that were eventually removed.

“The fraudsters are apparently taking advantage of the exercise at Swali market, Etegwe and Edepie illegal markets by Tombia Roundabout to defraud gullible landlords and traders.

“For the avoidance of doubt, the task force is not under the influence of any person or group of persons and it takes directives from only the executive governor of the state or his representatives.

“Owners of illegal structures identified for removal will not only be given prior notice but has been asked to remove them before the commencement of any action.

“The task force has not and do not have any reason to engage the services of person(s) to collect money from anyone on its behalf thus wants concerned members of the public to report suspected fraudsters to the Police for arrest and subsequent prosecution,” Akpor said.

The government advised landlords and shop owners of illegal structures and unapproved extensions on buildings, particularly on major roads in the state capital to remove such structures to avoid forceful demolition by the task force soon.

Also, traders at Igbogene, Okaka and Opolo markets as well as Opolo roundabout are advised to remove all their illegal structures immediately as the task force would soon move in to remove such structures as part of the urban renewal plans by government.